


The Dwarven effect

by defiasstone2



Category: Warhammer Fantasy
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-06
Updated: 2015-05-06
Packaged: 2018-01-11 10:46:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1172135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/defiasstone2/pseuds/defiasstone2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first of the adventures of Storri Ironfist and Ionor Windfoot, the pair pursuing the thieves of a magical amulet in an attempt to return it to the wooded realm of Loren. More characters will get drawn into the tale as the simple task quickly escalates into something more...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The start of a wonderful relationship??

The Dwarven Effect:

 

It was late, almost midnight and the two moons Morrisleb and Mannslieb waxed ominously in the sky. The two moons pale light providing the barest of vision through the thick foliage and boughs of the trees, painting everything in their dull eerie glow. Ionor the wood elf had little time to ponder the luminescence of the moons however as she followed the tracks of her quarry through the forest, this was a vital mission after all and any time she wasted was time that her homeland was put even more at risk.

 

Suddenly Ionor could see the shifting light of a fire in the distance and she paused momentarily, reaching back to grab the haft of one of her arrows and drawing it silently from its quiver with practiced ease. The arrows were produced in the same manner as her bow itself, the purpose grown wood supplied and crafted from the living woods by one of the dryads, a spirit of the forest given physical form.

 

The dryad had communed with the forest and linked her soul to the donor yew tree during the making of her bow, a symbol that she had been truly recognised as a ranger and pathfinder of Loren, the magic imbued in it linked to her own life energy in a manner that brought her comfort even now, the furthest she had ever been from her home or her brethren elves. She had been supplied with two quivers of arrows, almost fifty of the ironwood tipped barbs of death, when she had left on her mission out of her homeland of Loren and she had not yet had reason to use them until now.

 

It had not been a quick or easy journey, her foes staying away from the man constructed roads and instead keeping to the woods like this one as they made hastily across the realm the race of men called Bretonnia and onto the border of the self-styled ‘Empire’.

 

As Ionor stalked closer she realised that she was approaching a small clearing in the woods of the area. Slipping behind the trees nearest the clearing she leaned out slight and confirmed that those in it certainly looked like her quarry. The half a dozen men before her, judging by the tracks she had been following, were far too relaxed in her opinion for such a murderous band of bandits and thieves.

 

Three of the group were presumably sleeping given the erected tents around the edge of the fire itself whilst the others kept watch, sat closely round the small camp fire eating, drinking and talking quietly. Whilst for the most part they simply looked like the other humans that Ionor had encountered in the past, Ionor could not let her respect for life stop her now, not when she was so close to succeeding.

 

The crime for which Ionor was tracking the group was simple; the six of them were responsible for the murder of the human sage Bartimeus and the theft of his magical amulet. The amulet was a powerful artefact and gift from the lord of Loren, the demi-god Orion himself, not that he had been present to give it in person due to his many duties, but it was still a privilege most Wood Elves would give anything to receive.

 

It had granted both passage through the forests wards as well as sustained health and life. This lead to the wizard living to the age of 140 before he was killed; something she was told by the older wardens was a great age for humans to achieve even as a magic wielder of their kind.

 

Bartimeus had been a great ally of Loren even before receiving the Forest Lord’s blessing, to the point that he had been allowed to construct an earthen tower amongst the outermost glades of the southern realm of the forest. In return Bartimeus helped to protect the woodland realm from outside attack, both of magical and mundane origins, through the use of magical wards and traps that were in stark contrast to the usual magic wielded in the woodland realm.

 

What Ionor could not understand was how such a small group of thieves had so easily broken into the wizards tower and killing him without alerting him or his magical constructs in any way, judging by the lack of signs of combat or struggle round the wizards corpse. If that was not enough to put her on edge, another reason for her slight nervousness was that at 100 years old she was hardly the most experienced ranger available for the mission, especially given her only recent promotion to the position of pathfinder and the responsibilities that came with the position.

 

But the council had in their wisdom chosen to send her on this quest, to avenge Bartimeus but more importantly to retrieve the amulet before it could fall into the wrong hands, alone and without any real support for reasons that were beyond her. Cursing the elders that made up the council under her breath not for the first time, Ionor notched an arrow into her bowstring, taking a knee to prepare herself as the clearing and its denizens became fully visible to her without any remaining foliage to obscure them.

 

Breathing in gently, she cleared her head of her thoughts as she drew back the string, lining up her vision with the largest of the men present, the one who looked the most heavily armoured in half plate armour and sat next to a large two handed sword. He and two of the others were sat by the fire, drinking quietly, one armed with a short bow and the other seemed to be covered with daggers adorning his chest and upper legs.

 

With a silent prayer to the spirits of the forest to guide her, Ionor loosed her first shot. After so many practice drills her hand already going back and drawing the second arrow even as the first shaft embedded itself in the large man’s neck. The dying man’s face was a rictus of shock and pain that burned into her memory as he fell gurgling to the floor, his two companions jumping to their feet shouting loudly as he did so. Ionor remained calm, firing her second shot as precisely as the first, embedding itself in the dagger man’s chest and sending him sprawling into the fire, screaming in pain as the embers began to ignite his clothing.

 

As she reached back into her quiver for the third arrow, Ionor heard the sound of movement rapidly approaching from behind her and the vibrations of the earth beneath her feet. Turning, she just caught sight of a man’s angered face, his beard aglow with the firelight as his mace slammed into her chest, sending her flying into the clearing. The pain was terrible, and she was amazed she didn’t pass out instantly; she knew she had at least three broken ribs from that blow.

 

Dazed as she was both by the blow and the impact with the floor, Ionor was unable to react quickly enough to draw a weapon as the large bearded man stomped forward, covered in furs and leathers, followed by a leaner man with chain armour and two swords drawn and ready.

 

The large man knocked her bow out of her weakened grasp as she tried to stand, grabbing her neck and slamming her heavily into a tree with a meaty hand, ignoring her pained scream that came unbidden from her lungs as her wounds protested the movement. He raised his mace once more, snarling furiously as he did so, obviously intending to take his revenge for the death of his two men.

 

As he reached the peak of his swing, there was a swishing sound followed by a meaty thud, the man in front of her pausing mid motion almost in surprise. A moment later his face transformed to that of shock, dropping her from his weakened grasp before toppling to his left, revealing a throwing axe embedded in his spine.

 

The bow wielding man drew back the arrow on his bow worriedly for a moment before turning and sprinting into the trees away from where the hatchet had come from, obviously not prepared to face the killer with already three casualties. Whilst the coward ran, the sword wielding man looked around warily, ignoring Ionor as she struggled to bring air back into her lungs without her ribs making her black out.

 

It was at that point, almost to distract herself from the pain, that Ionor noticed the presence of a girl amongst the group, a human one from the looks of it. The girl was scrawny and ill dressed, obviously trying to make herself as small as possible throughout the entire proceedings, which had worked thus far as Ionor had somehow missed her.

 

Ionor’s focus was dragged from the girl as she heard the breaking of twigs and shuffling of leaves, an obvious sign of her saviour approaching. Out of the forest strode what could only be a dwarf, standing at about 5 foot tall but as wide as an ox at the chest, which matched the stories Ionor had heard about them having more muscle than any human blacksmith could claim to have developed. In one hand the dwarf held a halberd, one that was at least a half foot taller than him, whilst in the other he tossed another throwing axe, almost playfully as he surveyed the scene.

 

There was a moments silence that was only broken as Ionor tried to breath once more, only to sob in anguish as she felt one of her broken ribs scrape against itself and her lung. The sound seemed to break the standoff, the sword wielder charging towards his now visible opponent, swords twirling in a semi-decent show of skill obviously designed to intimidate and confuse his opponent. The dwarf merely scoffed in obvious disapproval, burying the hatchet in the ground next to him as he grabbed the haft of his halberd with both hands, sinking into what was obviously a well-used combat stance.

 

The human reached attacking distance and swung both swords overhead in a powerful slicing motion, evidently trying to kill the dwarf in a single blow so that he could then finish Ionor off before leaving.

 

The Dwarf simply rolled beneath the blows, coming up behind and to the left of the bandit, halberd swinging in a deadly arc that was calculated to meet the human’s momentum mid strike. A moment later the bandit’s head hit the forest floor, the man’s body following soon after with a decisive thud even to Ionor’s dwindling senses. The dwarf ignored it, already moving towards the girl and Ionor, the girl raising her arms both in surrender and to show that she was unarmed.

 

Nodding the dwarf turned to Ionor, whose vision was fading as the adrenaline wore off and the pain set in fully, the previous stabs of pain replaced with a sea of agony that every motion only made that much more unbearable. The last thing she saw as the light of the fire faded was the dwarfs face, set in a grim smile as he knelt next to her.

 

 


	2. The Recovery Plan

An elder, the one who assigned her the mission, showing her a drawing of the amulet she was to retrieve and sending her off without even a chance to say goodbye…

 

A tower made of stone and earth rising from the earth like a natural rock formation, whose master laid amongst his now defunct defences, dried blood pooled beneath him from a bloodied knife still embedded in his wizened chest…

 

A man’s face, rictus of fury as he slammed his mace into his chest, eyes screaming at his desire to make her suffer…

 

A Dwarf, whose kind were sworn to destroy the realms of the elves for slights committed centuries ago, standing over her as her vision faded to nothingness…

 

Ionor came to from her feverish dreams with a gasp that quickly turned to a pained whimper as her chest was wracked with agony. Resting for a moment to take note of her surroundings and also to allow the pain to cease before she tried anything else, Ionor was both surprised and relieved when she heard a soft but gravelly voice off to her left. At least the dwarf had not decided to kill her or worse leave her unconscious and crippled in the forest for the beasts of the forests to devour at their leisure.

 

The voice came from quite nearby and she opened her eyes slowly to try and see where it came from, noting the slivers of sunlight through the leaves over her head as she did so. Suddenly, the dwarf's face from before appeared in her vision, looking down on her disapprovingly and with more than a hint of disdain in his expression.

 

“Don’t try and move now elf, sitting up especially is a bad idea, considering you have three broken ribs and another half a dozen badly bruised to boot. That’s not including the bruising on your back and on your neck from hitting that ruddy tree. Honestly, I don’t know how you elves gave us such a challenge in the days of old, you’re all far too squishy. If you were like a dwarf we wouldn’t currently be travelling to the only healer in these parts to get you fixed.”

 

It was at that point in the dwarf’s muttering rant that Ionor belatedly noticed that the foliage above them was moving and shifting, and that when she breathed through her nose she smelt lumber and spices, both of which upset her on an instinctual level, plant life was just as sacred as human or animal life, that was what she had grown up on and around after all.

 

The idea of cutting down trees just to burn them made no sense to her, and offended her morals considering how many of the dryads she had befriended over the years. However she knew it would not be particularly graceful of her to comment on that at this point and offend her saviour, that and her throat was on fire and completely parched. As if sensing this was her problem, the Dwarf ducked back out of her view for another moment before returning with a weird type of cup, made out of steel with a handle on the side of it of all things.

 

It seemed to be filled with some type of frothy liquid, which she recognised as beer, a drink that was especially popular in Bretonnia amongst the common folk there. Not that that was particularly surprising, as the water in the lands of men was no-where near as pure and crisp as the waters of Loren, so they had to find other ways to make it safe to drink. She then felt a hand ease itself underneath her head and lift it slowly and gently, to the point it and her shoulders were at a 30 degree angle to the floor without any effort on her behalf.

 

Then the tankard was placed in her hands and she was surprised with the sheer weight of the vessel. If not for the dwarf’s hand, which ironically dwarfed her own slender ones, she would have dropped the thing. Ionor was surprised at how gently he guided the tankard and her own hands to the point where she could take a drink, the opposite to the attitude that he had shown earlier.

 

It was also a stark contrast to the attitude that she had been taught was commonplace with the race of stone dwellers, who lived in huge halls underneath the earth and despised elves of all kinds for a long passed conflict, as much as elves despised them for their blunt ways and disregard for nature. Those most steeped in lore and least biased against the outside world told of a time in ancient history when elves and dwarves were allies and friends, but those elders were few and far between.

 

The dwarf tilted the tankard to allow her to sip a small mouthful, and the liquid surprised her, alighting taste buds that she didn’t even know she had. it was slightly sour and bubbly, and if she wasn’t so thirsty that might have given her some pause, but after the initial taste she gulped down more greedily.

 

With such a strange new experience Ionor couldn’t help the welling of anger that bubbled up inside her when the dwarf pulled the tankard away from her mouth. Seeing her obviously displeased expression, he sighed and hefted the tankard to take a sip of his own before speaking up.

 

“Trust me Elf, you do not want your first experience of alcohol to be more than a few sips of Bugman’s beer. This stuff knocks us dwarves out if we have too much and make humans violently ill, I imagine you will start feeling the effects any minute.” She breathed in, readying herself to protest that she felt fine, when she suddenly found herself feeling very tired and slightly dizzy, but not in a bad way she mused.

 

As she drifted off, she managed to utter the sentence she felt was the most important to impart at the short notice she had.

 

“Thank you Master Dwarf, I owe you my life…” If her eyes hadn’t already surrendered to the will of the alcohol induced stupor, she would have seen the dwarf grimace at her statement.

 

It lasted a moment before he started chuckling to himself for a few seconds, before his face turned stony once more and his gaze turned to the other person in the cart, watching closely as she quivered under his stare.

 

***

 

The next time Ionor awoke, she found herself looking up at thatched roofing, which she quickly worked out meant she was inside a human dwelling. Whether that was a good or bad thing remained to be seen. She sat up slowly, surprised by the lack of protest from her ribs or back as she began to survey the room.  She noticed the four other beds around the room, though from what she could tell only 2 had been slept in.

 

There was a fireplace blazing on the far side of the room with a door to its left side and next to her bed was a small table and stool. On the table was a large glass of water, some bread and a yellow substance in a wedge shape that after wracking her brain for a moment she realised was the human food called cheese.

 

Wood Elf custom dictated that she shouldn’t eat anything that had passed through an animal in any form, having grown up in a forest and society that valued natural life it was an unspoken law. But with her stomach clenching painfully as she caught the smell of the food, custom was ignored in place of wolfing down the meal in front of her, savouring as she did so the new and interesting flavours that she was being exposed to.

 

She was almost finished with only a little of the cheese left, when a gruff cough from behind her caused her to jump slightly. Ionor looked round hurriedly, cursing her complacency as she had lost track of her surroundings to satisfy her hunger. Stood in the now open doorway was the dwarf, and it was now in the light of the fire and fully cognisant for the first time since their meeting that she realised how burly her rescuer actually was.

 

Height wise he matched what she had been taught was an average height for a dwarf, being the same height as she was sitting on the low bed. It was the fact that he was easily wider than the doorway he was stood in that astounded her, him having to stand almost diagonally to fit properly. Her teachers had tried to describe the dwarves and their sheer strength to her, but she had never really appreciated it until now, he was easily twice her width at the shoulders, and each of his arms was thicker throughout their length than her waist at its widest point.

 

His hair was about shoulder length, braided into clean, chestnut brown rivulets at the front to stop it getting into his eyes. His beard was similarly plaited, easily reaching his waist with thick metal bands and rings embedded or interwoven in it each covered in the dwarven runic script, 12 separate pieces that her eyes could count at a glance.

 

At his waist was stowed both the throwing hatchets that had saved her life during the ambush and the tankard he had allowed her to drink from, now obviously empty. She drew her eyes to his own, which were a much darker brown than his hair, and narrowed into a light frown as he observed her observing him, though he did not seem too uncomfortable with the assessment she was making.

 

“I see you are awake at last.” He began gruffly, eyes belying his hidden distrust for her and she suspected her kind in general. It was something she understood from her teachings, dwarves always suspected that the elves were hiding something and plotting schemes at all times, regardless of what the elves themselves claimed. She nodded slowly, making sure to keep her hands where he could see them in the hope that it would help with his issues.

 

“I am, but only thanks to you Master Dwarf. I thank you again for saving my life, I owe you a debt.”

 

That caused the dwarf to pause, something flickered in his eyes for a moment at the mention of debts as she had thought it would. Dwarves respected nothing more than honour, oaths and honouring a debt owed to a dwarf, which was why Ionor had claimed she owed him one. It would probably help him trust her somewhat now he was obviously in the commanding position or that is what she hoped. He said nothing for a few moments, and she had to resist the urge to fidget slightly under his gaze, before finally he sighed, nodding, almost more to himself then her, before continuing speaking.

 

“In which case, you can tell me what you are doing more than 100 leagues away from the northern tip of that blasted forest of yours. Also, whilst you’re at it you can also explain why you went after a group of humans that outnumbered you, without even properly searching the area first for guards or traps. By Grungi, I thought that ambushing was what you elves were good at, but you can’t seem to do that properly.”

 

Ionor now understood what her mentors had meant by the bluntness of dwarven sarcasm, but she decided to ignore it for now, flushing nonetheless at the point that the dwarf had made, it had been a hasty decision on her part, trying to hurry her mission as much as possible in order to get back and impress her skill and efficiency to the Wardens of the glades. Ionor grimaced, that plan had backfired royally and ended up with her in the situation she was now.

 

“I was on a mission on behalf of the Wardens of the forest who are what you might call our ruling council. I was meant to be retrieving an amulet of great importance from the bandits I had ambushed. They had stolen it from a long-time ally of our people, killing him in the process.” She shook her head, knowing without looking that the dwarf was sending her a disapproving look, which was not in any way helping her admit the faults she had committed.

 

“I know I rushed it, but I had orders to retrieve it and return before the coming winter. The sooner the better and well, I just wanted to impress them.”

 

She finished lamely, expecting the dwarf’s mockery any moment, but was surprised when without a word he turned away and headed towards one of the used beds, from under which he pulled out a large rucksack, rummaging around for a moment before striding back to her and holding out one of his ham sized hands in a fist.

 

“This amulet, what did it look like? Would either of these fit its description?” He opened his fist and she found herself looking at two amulets, which he had evidently found on the bodies of the bandits. She shook her head sadly; neither fitted the description the wardens had given her or the drawing the elder had shown her.

 

Which given how distinctive such amulets would be, having no metal in them of course, left little room for accidentally picking the wrong amulet. Sighing in disappointment, he stood and walked over to the door, sticking his head out and calling out.

 

“Alexis! In here now, we have questions for you. Don’t try anything stupid either.” Straining her ears, Ionor was surprised when the human girl from the forest appeared at the door without making an audible sound.

 

Her hands were tied tightly with rope and her legs were tied similarly, but more loosely to allow for some small movement. The girl’s hair, raven black with a few flecks of white interspacing the mane, was tied back and whilst she looked frightened and nervous, it was obvious that she was otherwise unharmed.

 

She bowed hurriedly when she saw that Ionor was awake, undoubtedly worried that Ionor would be angry after the events leading to her injuries. The dwarf prodded the girl, who stood hurriedly and moved closer, before kneeling in front of Ionor, head bowed submissively.

 

“Elf, this is Alexis, she claims that she was captured by the bandits at age 10 and that she has been forced to work for them since. In return for her freedom and one other condition, she has agreed to tell us everything she knows about the bandits, their leader and where their camp is.”

Ionor looked down at the girl pityingly; she could not imagine what it would have been like to have been taken from her family at such a young age. The girl raised her head slightly at the silence, and noting Ionor’s look of something other than anger, she spoke for the first time.

 

“I am sorry about your injuries Mistress; Klein had taken me to ensure that we weren’t being followed and to disguise the tracks we had made.  I commented about yours without thinking about the consequences.” She looked away again, seemingly embarrassed and upset by the results of her unintended ousting of Ionor's presence.

 

“If I don’t notice something before Klein or the others do, I tend to get punished…”She trailed off, not wanting to speak further, which was understandable if it meant the sort of things Ionor was already imagining.

 

“Anyways” the dwarf interrupted, evidently impatient and wanting to get the questioning over with, but he also seemed uncomfortable with the discussion of the girl being punished. “Alexis, you have any knowledge about an amulet that your group stole from someone near the wood of Loren.” The name of the forest evidently was unknown to the girl, but she nodded quickly.

 

“Of course, that’s what the boss sent us to retrieve after all. Hans had it, the one who ran away and he will be making all speed to the hideout now. We are meant to be there two days from now, knowing Hans he will be there by the eve of the morrow.” The dwarf seemed to ponder this for a moment, looking at Ionor before turning back to the girl, who had finally got the courage to raise her head for more than a few tense moments.

 

“How many bandits will there be there? And could you lead us to this hideout?” Ionor couldn't help her head swivelling in his direction at the new line of questioning.

 

“Us, What do you mean us?” Ionor asked confusedly, and the dwarf chuckled.

 

“You owe me a debt now elf and I am not letting you run off and get yourself killed so you don’t have to honour it. Besides, I have no current business I need to rush off to, so killing some bandits seems like a good use of my time.” Alexis looked up sharply at this before controlling herself and looking down once more.

 

“There are about 50 bandits in total, but there are rarely more than 30 in the camp at any one time, the boss likes to keep raids going constantly to keep the gold flowing.” The Dwarf nodded his head in understanding at that, and looked like he was about to turn away. Ionor spoke up before he could escape, determined to try and get to know something about her new companion.

 

“Master Dwarf, my name is Ionor Windfoot of Loren, may I ask your name?” The dwarf shook his head and held up his hand dismissively.

 

“I need not know your name elf and you have no right to mine. To do business with your kind, all I need to know is where you are, so I know where to watch for treachery. Now, I must go speak with the townsmen, be ready to leave in an hour.” And with that he stomped off out of the room, leaving the two females alone. Sitting up completely, Ionor noted that her bow and equipment were at the end of bed, and swung her legs out of bed, standing to get ready. She paused however when Alexis spoke up timidly.

 

“Why does Master not seem to like you Mistress? It makes no sense seeing as he saved your life and is now helping you on your quest.” Ionor sighed and looked at the girl once more, dredging up what sparse lore she knew in an attempt to satisfyingly answer the innocent but leading question.

 

“The reason is an ancient one; dating back to before men were ascendant, simply a small barbaric race on the northern borders of the elfish empire that was where your own Empire now stands, surrounded by the dwarven fortress cities in the mountains. The Dwarves and Elves were great allies then, each with their own specialities and strengths, but then unfortunately, tragedy and deception lead to a great war erupting between the two races, with such carnage, death and betrayal on both sides of the conflict. There are some wounds that cannot be healed by mere time alone it seems.” Alexis nodded and then rushed to her feet to steady Ionor when she stumbled slightly, her head aching from the movement.

 

“The priest said that you might be a bit unsteady at first and that you were to avoid pushing yourself too hard.” Ionor nodded and returned to readying her belongings.

 

“How long was I out?” Alexis replied immediately, obviously having expected that very question.

 

“Two days Mistress. Well, this is the afternoon of the second day; you are tougher than the dwarf thought. He thought you would not wake properly until the morning.” The news of her new companions demeaning expectations made Ionor sigh once more.

 

Evidently the dwarf had viewed her as inferior before she had awoken simply based on what race she had been and her low endurance for pain. And now he knew of her blunders and the reasons for them, his view could have only worsened. Ionor supposed it was enough of a blessing that he would never actually come out and speak of it to her; he was polite enough to avoid that confrontation at least.

 

She was broken from her deprecating musing by Alexis’ fidgeting, evidently wishing to voice a question but worried about how it could be taken. Finally with a deep breath that seemed to steady her, she voiced her query.

 

“Mistress, I don’t mean to impose upon you, but c-could you please untie my hands?” The girl paused for a moment as Ionor looked up at her disbelievingly, before hurriedly carrying on speaking.

 

“I swear I won’t try and run away or anything mistress. But my wrists chafe so much, I will help you pack and everything better as well if I am unhindered.”

 

She returned to fidgeting nervously as Ionor looked her up and down looking for a sign of deceit, before sighing in relief as Ionor went to undo her bindings. Ionor paused partway through her attempt to decipher the first knot when the dwarf’s voice came once more from the door, having returned surprisingly quietly once more along the wooden floor of the building.

 

“I would prefer if you didn’t unleash her just yet elf. There are things that the girl hasn’t been telling either of us that you should probably know before you continue with your path of freeing her.”

Alexis froze; her voice timid as she slowly turned to face the dwarf, who had advanced a few steps into the room. His hands were behind his back in a non-threatening manner, but there was a determined look on his face completely focussed on the young girl.

 

“I-I don’t know what you mean master, I told the truth with everything I said I swear.” The dwarf chuckled and advanced another step, causing Alexis to step away from him and Ionor towards the corner, her face terrified.

 

“I didn’t doubt what you said; I just meant what you hadn’t told us everything about yourself, Vampire…” Ionor’s head whipped around to face Alexis who backed away from the dwarf another step, her face that of shock.

 

“H-How, how could you possibly have known master?” The dwarf advanced another step, raising one of his hands round to begin ticking off reasons using his outstretched fingers, though he did seem a little surprised that the girl hadn’t even tried to deny what she was.

 

“Firstly, you could see me the night of the ambush before I got anywhere near close enough to be seen by firelight, showing that you had unparalleled night vision. Admittedly, by itself that means nothing, there have been cases of humans possessing that trait.”

 

As the first finger went down he advanced another step, his other hand appearing clasping a seal of sigmar and another seal. This one was of obviously dwarf origin, the two religious symbols causing her to back up even faster, hands moving up to cover face as best she could.

 

“Secondly, you have not slept or eaten since I captured you. Yet you seem perfectly fine and awake, if a bit thin and pale for a human. Thirdly your hooded cloak, that you practically begged me to let you wear in the cart on the way here. Your sluggishness during the day, or when the priest was here to heal the elf are other small things that I have noticed.” He stopped at that point, having backed Alexis into the corner of the room, her arms pink and blistering as she squirmed and cried out pityingly.

 

“Please, stop! I beg of you, I swear on my life that I meant you or your companion no harm.” The dwarf pulled back the seals, hiding it behind him once more. She collapsed to the floor, panting and sobbing softly, curling herself into a ball as the dwarf continued speaking.

 

“The only question I have yet to answer is the one of why you are still here. Despite my confidence in my skill, there is no way I would have noticed if you had attacked me and faked death at the ambush then escaped once we had left. So why didn’t you?” Alexis did not answer for several long moments, causing the dwarf to sigh and begin to bring his hand round once more.

 

Ionor surprised herself by shouting at him to stop and Alexis looked up at her gratefully for a moment as the dwarf looked over at Ionor and sighed before replacing his arm behind his back. The girl composed herself a little before abasing herself towards the dwarf once more, tears streaking her cheeks throughout.

 

“Please master, no more pain. All I wanted was to get a chance to live a normal life and to get revenge on the bastard that controlled me. That is all I wish I swear.” The dwarf looked down at her form then to Ionor, his face filled with sorrow. He grimaced and cursed quietly to himself, throwing the seals to Ionor who caught them deftly, before bending down to kneel next to Alexis. He reached out and his grimace worsened when Alexis flinched visibly before seeming to control her reaction and returning to her previous position, obviously a trained reaction to punishment similar to what he had just inflicted.

 

“Alexis, look at me. I won’t hurt you anymore, I promise.”  She looked up slowly, and upon seeing his sad expression, relaxed slightly and held up her bound hands, a small flash of hope entering her eyes before they became guarded once more.

 

“Please master, I will be good I swear. Just no more pain.” Ionor barely caught it but she heard the dwarf choke as the girl spoke, quickly reaching across and untying the ropes on her hands and then moving to do the same to her legs. The girl sat up slowly, the pinkness on her arms healing slowly but visibly quickly. The dwarf stood once more, his voice even gruffer than before if that was possible.

 

“How does he have control over you? There were no bindings or symbols at the camp when we captured you that could have affected you.” Alexis looked down with a mixture of sadness and shame.

 

“They have my elder sister, and if I do not return to them, they will rape her, before killing her slowly and painfully. They have threatened similar things if I should disobey them, and they shall make me watch them do so.” The dwarf’s hands tightened into fists, he seemed to have trouble dealing with the fact that the vampire, no the girl in front of them was nothing like the tales of the bloodthirsty monsters that Ionor had been taught about.

 

“Your sister, is she also a…” Alexis shook her head violently.

 

“No, she is a normal human, not an abomination like me.” She massaged her rapidly healing forearms gingerly and then looked up, her face determined and eyes set on the dwarf.

 

“I am sorry for deceiving you Master; I just did not want to endanger my sister’s life any more than it already was. My hope was to help you in dealing with the bandits so that you could rescue my sister, then we could both escape far away. I meant neither you or the mistress any harm, and I swear that again on my life.” The dwarf turned away and if Ionor didn’t know better she would have assumed that he couldn’t bear looking at the sight of the girl he had hurt any longer. Strange how such a story can change your preconceptions about someone.

 

She spoke up instead, to save him the embarrassment by drawing attention from him once more.

 

“It’s okay Alexis we believe you. We are sorry for not trusting your motives, but now we are all in this together. So we will save your sister, you have my word.” Alexis grinned happily, leaping up and hugging Ionor before doing the same to the seemingly frozen dwarf.

 

“Thank you, thank you so much, I will find a way to repay your kindness I swear Master Storri and Mistress Ionor, now I must pack so we can head out.” She then practically ran out of the room, the happiest expression that Ionor had seen on her face since they had met. The dwarf, who Alexis had called Storri, finally regained movement and shook his head. As Ionor walked up beside him she saw a look of pure cold determination on his face.

 

“Elf, this is no longer about your amulet, understand? Each and every one of those bandits will die before we do anything else. Help me ensure this and I will consider our debt even.” Storri then stomped off to the door once more; leaving Ionor to ponder what had caused the dwarf to have such hatred towards bandits that turned to slaving. This was beyond a normal hatred for the trade. Shaking her head, she decided it was better not to ask. After all, it made her job that much easier if they succeeded in the dwarf’s self-appointed task. Or at least, she hoped it would.

 

Time Skip: 1 day later, evening

 

Looking down upon the bandit encampment, Ionor was suddenly glad that she didn’t have to try and take this place by herself. There were at least thirty bandits scattered along the length of the small canyon they were based in, with a palisade gate and wall blocking the only way into or out of the place, or so they thought.

 

They were lucky to have Storri with them, as after searching the nearby area he had found an old dwarven prospectors path. It intersected with the canyon about ¾ of the way down its length, and ran about 15 feet above the canyon floor. This allowed Ionor the perfect spot from which to shoot if their plan went pear shaped and Storri needed support. About 40 feet to her left was a collection of tents, including the largest and most ostentatious one, which obviously had to be the leader’s tent.

 

Next to that tent was a large awning covered cage, no doubt where Alexis’ sister was being kept. The plan, as Storri had explained it to her, was relatively straightforward. He would rappel down into the canyon itself, sneak to the girl’s cage, free her, bring her back to where Ionor would hoist her up and then kill off the bandits whilst they were sleeping. Once that was done he would move to those who would be guarding the front entrance.

 

Alexis was with a small force of town militia outside the palisade in the nearby woods led by the towns warrior priest Gunter the Red, who having learned of Alexis’ identity had been initially borderline fanatical about purging the girl. But having questioned and tested her, Gunter had accepted her presence into the group begrudgingly, admitting that she had much less taint in her than the few feral vampires he had encountered before in the mountainous regions between the Empire and Bretonnia.

 

He had even gone as far as procuring some donated blood for her to gain sustenance from the townsfolk. The girl had accepted this gift gratefully, she had admitted that the bandits kept her constantly low on blood to keep her weak and malleable to their demands on top of the leverage they already had over her with her sister. Ionor’s job for the plan to succeed was simple and not at all dangerous, she was to cover him and provide support should he be detected and the bandits attacked in force. Obviously the dwarf had meant it when he had said he did not want her dying on him before she had a chance to repay the debt that she now owed him.

 

Storri gave her the signal that he was going to be descending, and she nodded, preparing her body and mind for a firefight should the situation fall apart. With a prayer to the gods of the forest, she stood slowly, unhooking her bow from her back and drawing an arrow, ready to deal with these thieves and murderers, once and for all.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> My rewritten work from FF.net, hope you guys like it. Let me know what you think and anything you think I need to change :)


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